Mental Health Appeals Program consultations

Consultation status: Closed

Individuals in the mental health system are a particularly vulnerable group. As part of Legal Aid Ontario’s Mental Health Strategy, a program will be introduced to expand the availability of certificates and hours for appeals from decisions of the Consent and Capacity Board and the Ontario Review Board.

LAO is developing this program after it held consultations with the Mental Health Legal Committee, Criminal Lawyers Association and Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office.

Phase 1 consultations happened over May 2014 to January 2015 with key stakeholders and institutions including the regional and local mental health bar.

These consultations resulted in the design of a new provincial case coordination form, appeal process maps, appeal funding guidelines, and a block fee appeal funding model.

Phase 2 consultations ran from early 2015 to summer 2017. In-person and teleconference sessions were held in Oshawa, Ottawa, St. Thomas, Toronto, Kingston, Hamilton, Thunder Bay and North Bay. As of June 2015, LAO has been meeting with psychiatric facilities.

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